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April 4, 2011

Calling

I'm reading Os Guiness' The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life right now, a chapter per day as he intends the reader to take it. It's fascinating on many levels, but I'm most struck by his thorough but gentle analysis of culture, how well-read he is, and how thoughtfully he approaches faith, while calling his readers to a personal, active, real relationship with Jesus. In short, I would recommend this book.

Some quotes:

This gives me hope, because I am far too proud.

Do we feel the wonder of being called? It is all a gift and all of grace.Pride is the first and worst sin, so grace is most amazing when it embraces the fruits of pride rather than the fruits of gluttony or lust, when it reaches the Pharisee soul rather than the profligate Mary Magdalene, when it wins the proud person made prouder still by calling rather than the sinner feeling unworthy to be addressed.Only Grace can dissolve the hard, solitary, vaunting "I" of the sin of pride in each of us. But the good news is that it does. p. 123

This I thought was interesting.

When we set out in youth and choose careers for external reasons - such as the lure of the salary, the prestige or the position, or pressure from parents and peers - we are setting ourselves up for frustration later in life if the work does not equally suit us for internal reasons, namely our giftedness and calling. "Success" may the flatter us on the outside and "significance eludes us from the inside. ... Any contradiction between our callings and our careers condemns us to be square pegs in round holes. p. 150-151

This is a wonderful sentence.

God has called us, and we are never more ourselves than when we are fully stretched and answering. p 151

Blogging has been put on the back burner, with the retreat coming up next weekend and all kinds of random evening activities. I've got some posts floating around in my head, but no time to flesh them and get them written and posted. Perhaps things will get back to normal around here next week. In the meantime, I may have to just post pictures of my kids and things we've been up to! Those are "easy" posts.

If you would pray for the womens retreat at which I'll be speaking next Saturday and Sunday, I'd appreciate it, specifically around 10am and 7pm on Saturday and 10am on Sunday. Pray for open hearts to hear the gospel and that I wouldn't talk too fast!

Ooooh, maybe when I get back I'll give you a summary of the talks! Here are the titles:

Jesus the Servant: Our Lord and Savior

Jesus the Servant: Our Example

Jesus the Servant: Empowering and Equipping Us

Peace to you today friends. May God enable you to see how the gospel applies to whatever situation in which you find yourself. I'm trying to learn how to do this myself. :)